I have many blog posts devoted to my experiences with wildlife. Snorkeling and exploring in the Galápagos Islands afforded me the opportunity to interact with marine and land animals in their natural habitat. Kayaking around the small island across from my lake house or just sitting on the porch offers close encounters with a variety of animal species as does just paying attention to the local fauna in my city home. Then there was that inexplicable event of a pelican trying to eat my foot, and the more recent encounter with a black bear in North Carolina.
But a bull moose in Colorado takes the cake.
I was in the Rocky Mountains with my two friends who will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with me in October to see how high altitude hiking would affect us. (More on that later.) On our first day, we chose a short hike with a large elevation gain. It was on an easy amble portion of the trail when I spotted her—a large female moose nestled in the tall grass, grazing contentedly, and her baby, exploring nearby, tasting wildflowers and the bark of a tree. They were both about fifty feet away from us. We stopped our walking and our chatter as we watched in delight. It appeared that Mama Moose was aware of us, but she wasn’t bothered. I know that moose can be dangerous, especially a mother with a baby, so it felt like a minor miracle that we could observe the pair so closely.
Our home base, a rental house situated in the forest at over 9000 feet elevation, offered unparalleled vistas of distant mountain peaks and a hot tub to sooth our legs and feet after a day’s worth of hiking. Those vistas were courtesy of a wall of windows overlooking a forest of aspen and pine with ground cover of grasses and wildflowers. The house was rather remote, but accessible enough to offer just the right amount of privacy and a sense of being alone in the forest. There were neighbors, but far enough away that only an occasional dog bark reminded us that other humans were nearby.
When we checked into the house, we were immediately taken by the windows and the views. The owners also had a notebook full of information for us, including a page with photos of wildlife taken at the property: a bobcat, a family of wild turkeys, deer, a mother moose with two babies, and a bull moose. We didn’t think much about it, not really believing we would actually witness any of these animals because we were not in the house that long.
After our second day of hiking, we went back to the house to relax, either reading or napping, or both. I noticed a large, moving, dark object at the far right window. Realizing what it was, I struggled to get the words out to tell my friends that a moose was coming to visit us, strangling something like, “Auuum, rriihha, lomoooo.” Finally, pointing, I managed to croak, “A moose.”
Sure enough, a large bull moose ambled onto the property and proceeded to drink water from a large bucket of water that I assume the owners keep for just this reason. He was just ten feet from our wall of windows and close enough that we could see his eyelashes and hear his slurping. After he had his fill, he began to scratch his huge rack of antlers with one hind leg then the other, then tried to use a flimsy bird feeder to scratch as well. My friends and I were glued to the scene, taking pictures through the window. Turning his head, he seemed to finally notice us and walked right up to the pane of glass, looking at us head on, eyeball to eyeball. What was he thinking? Maybe he pitied us in our glass zoo as he was able to freely roam. He didn’t seem aggressive, but had he a mind to, I suspect he could have demolished that window. Then he just wandered away.
We then refilled the bucket, and one friend stayed out to take photos of some aspen trees that were just beginning to turn their autumn yellow. I was back inside, and looking out my bedroom window, saw that the bull moose was still out there. Her husband quickly and quietly called her back inside. On our way to dinner, we spied him lounging in the tall grass, just watching his world.
The next morning, I rose early, before sunrise, as is my habit, and sat in front of those windows remembering the miracle of the prior afternoon and waiting for the sun to paint the distant peaks with tangerine. When I got up to use the restroom, movement in my bedroom window caught my attention. He was back, grazing on the grass and wildflowers just outside.
***
The moose carries many symbols: Strength, resilience, adaptability, pride, power, and wise elder. But the best, and actually first, answer I received when I googled the symbolic meaning of moose was from a gallery of Native American art about a painting by Jim Oskineegish: “Moose is a symbol of abundance which is manifested through the practice of patience and careful deliberation. Moose teaches us that when we take the time to really ‘chew on our decisions’ before we make them, that we will receive all that we need to live a good life.”
I’ll have to “chew on” that for a bit, but for now, I’ll just revel in the magic of that moment.